Hospital boiler has been broken for a year

Sinn Féin Councillor Tomás Sharkey has reacted angrily to news that the HSE has yet to fix a broken boiler in Louth County Hospital after 12 months. The dirty linen from the Dundalk hospital is being transported to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.

Councillor Sharkey said: “Last year the HSE stopped the laundry service in Dundalk after a boiler was deemed in need of repair. I have asked the HSE to fix the boiler and to date this has not happened. Every day dirty linen is transported from Dundalk to Drogheda, laundered and transported back to Dundalk again. There is an obvious expense involved here and I am sure the cost of repairs would have been cheaper.

“I contacted the management of the HSE about this matter again last week and am disappointed at the reply. It seems that there is no plan to fix the boiler in Dundalk and start laundry work in our hospital. The HSE says it is “investigating the feasibility of delivering Laundry services through it’s existing infrastructure.”

I fear that the laundry service will not return to Dundalk unless the boiler is repaired.”